running home by Alaistair

He didn’t ask this afternoon so said nothing, figured would just annoy him and you just shouldn’t piss-off a physio before he’s about to stick his thumbs in!

Since the Redcar Half on 12 Jun only ran once. Fri 24th Jun covering just 1.18 miles. The run was simply a tester. The ankle didn’t feel so bad, clearly was niggling and in my heart just knew that it was not ready to run let alone race. Problem was the race figured very high on my calendar for the year as a key race in the Yorkshire Dales series. All I required was a run of 44-45 mins and I stood a chance of closing in on 2nd M50 place. Competition for the Series M50 2nd position is shaping up to be between myself, Les H & David a fellow KH Club runner.

Figure would go to the venue warm-up slowly and if the ankle felt reasonable would give it a go and try my best for a reasonable finishing time. What I didn’t expect was the sweltering conditions on the day; reckon was easily 27 degrees. Warmed up away from Rainton village and slowly the ache in ankle eased such that after a good 20 minutes running felt pain free, what was clear as I warmed-up was my poor lack of fitness, just didn’t feel any bounce in my legs.

Did have a race plan that evaporated in seconds as the race started and David made a quick start, I matched his pace and worked hard to match his effort. Managed the first two miles ok but found the conditions totally draining in the heat, figured was the same for everyone but my lack of miles in my legs quickly started to show. Was struggling so much that by mile 3 the gap between myself and David was just to much for me to pull back so elected to walk through the drinks station and try to cool down.

The water helped greatly and surprisingly the places I lost managed to pull back fairly easily & quickly. Last couple of miles were a huge struggle and finished the race in very poor shape. The ankle actually caused no problem but my lack of fitness proved to be my undoing.

Sun 26 Jun,  Rainton 10K,  45:38.

Posn: 63/257 M50 9th overall (Series M50 4th)

Pace Splits: 6:31, 6:59, 7:05, 7:51, 7:36, 7:41, 7:43

As it turned out Les H ran a brilliant 43:43 & David 44:27 so all things considered was happy with my result, will certainly make for an interesting end to the series as perhaps it will all come down to a final showdown at Wetherby in Sep.

Following morning my ankle hurt like hell but thankfully the pain eased gradually as the hours passed and I kept active. Dreaded today’s Physio session as would’ve found it impossible to lie about running…he’d advised me no running until at least this week and after today is suggesting perhaps another couple of weeks with no running...

I know he’s right so will keep following just about all of his advice, will have to simply work harder trying to maintain CV fitness…